"The days are long, but the years are short."

The last couple months I feel like I been hearing/reading/learning of some pretty unfortunate things happening to some really good people… and they’ve been weighing heavily on me.  Not only has my heart been touched by these people, but I've also found myself more worried, uptight, scaried… scared that something a little closer to home could happen.  And these scared thoughts began to consume me. Then a swtich flipped, and I decided to change my way of thinking and replace my fears, worries, etc. with gratitude, appreciation & faith. Each and every day I need to be more appreciative of all that I have and grateful for my beautiful, healthy & happy boys, my amazing husband, our health, our family and friends and overall just the life we live.

Then the other night I read the most amazing chapter that couldn't have been more appropriately timed in a book I'm reading, The Happiness Project (a must read in my opinion). A couple thoughts from this chapter that have really stuck with me and reinforced my attempt at my new way of thinking.

A common theme in religion and philosophy, as well as in catastrophe memoirs, is the admonition to live fully and thankfully in the present. So often, it's only after some calamity strikes that we appreciate what we had. "There are times in the lives of most of us," observed William Edward Hartpole Lecky, "when we would have given all the world to be as we were yesterday, though that yesterday had passed over us unappreciated and unenjoyed."

AND, “The days are long, but the years are short.” Reminding myself of this short and sweet sentence has done wonders for my patience on my ‘trying’ days with the kids.

pic by MKC Photography